Straight answers. Published prices.

We're biased, but here's the honest case for Zaiphr: we're based in Moncton, New Brunswick, we publish our prices, and you work directly with the Microsoft-certified engineer who builds your solution — no sales layer, no offshore handoff. If you want a large firm with a big bench, we're not it. If you want a practical build from someone accountable to you by name, that's exactly what we do.

Pricing varies widely across Canada — anywhere from a few hundred dollars for an automated questionnaire to $10,000 or more from larger firms. Zaiphr's AI Adoption Assessment is $2,000, fixed. You get a plain-language report on where AI realistically fits your business — what to automate, what to leave alone, and what to do first — plus a check on which grants you may be eligible for.

The most common wins are automating document processing, invoice handling, scheduling, and customer communication. The fastest ones usually come from tools you already own — Microsoft Copilot, Power Automate, your CRM — extended with custom AI agents that handle research, intake, or first-line client questions.

Bookkeeping firms use AI to automate transaction categorization, receipt scanning, month-end close prep, and routine client communication. The typical result is several hours per week per bookkeeper freed from data entry — time that goes back into advisory work, client growth, or simply easier weeks during tax season.

For a 1–50-person business, a realistic entry point is $2,000 — that's our fixed-price AI Adoption Assessment, and it tells you whether spending more makes sense. From there, team training runs $1,200–2,000 per session, a process review is $850–2,800 per workflow, AI-assisted setup of a mapped workflow starts at $1,300, hands-off automation from $3,000 per workflow, and a full custom build typically lands between $8,000 and $25,000. Ongoing support starts at $500/month. Grants can offset a meaningful share of these costs — see our funding page.

In small businesses, AI almost always augments people rather than replacing them. The common pattern is automating routine tasks — data entry, document processing, scheduling — so your people spend their time on judgment calls and customer relationships. The businesses that get this wrong treat AI as a headcount-cutting exercise instead of a way to give good people better tools.

Zaiphr is an AI consultancy in Moncton, New Brunswick. We help small businesses adopt AI in four steps: an AI Adoption Assessment ($2,000), team training, custom tool builds, and ongoing support. Everything integrates with the tools you already use — Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Power BI, Google Workspace — and everything we build is yours to keep, source code and documentation included.

Owners and managers of businesses with roughly 1–50 people in Atlantic Canada — trades and field services, bookkeeping and professional services, retail, and local operations of every kind. Our clients are practical and budget-conscious: they don't want an "AI strategy," they want a specific bottleneck fixed at a price they agreed to up front. You don't need to be technical; you need a real problem worth solving.

Book a 15-minute fit call through the contact form or email info@zaiphr.ai — we reply within 1 business day. On the call we figure out whether there's a fit. If there is, the usual next step is the $2,000 AI Adoption Assessment; if there isn't, we'll tell you that too.

Yes. The 15-minute fit call is free and there's no obligation — it exists to figure out whether the paid assessment is worth your money. No pressure, no pitch deck. If AI isn't a good fit for your business right now, we'll say so on the call.

Prices are published and fixed wherever possible:

• AI Adoption Assessment: $2,000, fixed — the recommended starting point
• Team Training & Enablement: $1,200–2,000 per session
• Process Review & Solution Mapping: $850–2,800 per workflow
• AI-Assisted Setup: from $1,300 per workflow — we build the mapped workflow in the AI tools you already use (Copilot agents, Claude projects)
• Hands-Off Automation: from $3,000 per workflow, quoted from your map — fully automated flows (e.g. Power Automate)
• Custom Build: typically $8,000–25,000 depending on scope
• Ongoing support: Care plans from $500/month, Improve plans from $1,500/month

All prices in CAD. You get a written proposal with exact pricing before any work begins, and you can stop at any rung of the ladder.

Every build runs from kickoff to a documented handoff in 2–6 weeks: discovery, design, development, testing, deployment, training for your team, and 30 days of post-launch support. You own everything we deliver — source code and documentation included — so you're never locked in.

Yes. Every project includes 30 days of post-launch support. After that, there are two plans: Care from $500/month covers monitoring, fixes, and updates; Improve from $1,500/month adds ongoing enhancement work — new features, new automations, regular working sessions. Both are month-to-month; no long contracts.

Usually, yes — the service ladder exists for exactly this. You can start with the $2,000 assessment, add training or a process review, and only commit to a custom build when the numbers make sense. We'll also check whether grants can cover part of the cost. If your budget genuinely can't buy a useful result, we'll tell you before you spend anything.

Often, yes. The main programs we work with are ACOA's Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative (federal funding for AI adoption in Atlantic Canada), provincial digital-adoption programs in NB, NS, PEI, and NL, and CyberSecure NB for cybersecurity and digital readiness. We keep a current list on our funding page. Programs change and approvals are never guaranteed, but many projects recover a meaningful share of their cost.

A funding-eligibility check is part of the AI Adoption Assessment — we look at which programs fit your business and your project before you apply. We then structure the project scope so it aligns with program requirements, and we help you assemble the application paperwork. To be clear: we're not the grantor, and no consultant can guarantee an approval.

Programs open and close, so we maintain the current list on our funding page rather than here. The programs are active and funded: in March 2026, ACOA announced $8.5 million across 40 AI-adoption projects in Atlantic Canada under its Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative. If you'd rather not track programs yourself, that's part of what the assessment covers.

Mostly the Microsoft ecosystem (Microsoft 365, Power Automate, Power BI, Azure AI), the major CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics 365), Google Workspace, and modern AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic. Under the hood we build with Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, and standard cloud services. If you use other tools, we can almost always integrate with them.

Not necessarily. Most of what we build runs on cloud platforms, so there's usually nothing to install on-premises. We assess your current setup during discovery and recommend the most practical approach — which is sometimes "use what you already pay for better" rather than "buy something new."

Yes — that's the core of our approach. We design around the systems you already run rather than asking you to replace things that work. Integrations are built to fit your existing workflows, not disrupt them.

Security is designed in, not bolted on: encrypted data, secure API connections, access controls, and compliance with the regulations that apply to you. For sensitive industries — healthcare, finance, legal — we add the extra measures those fields require. Your specific security requirements are part of the discovery conversation.

We comply with Canadian privacy legislation, including PIPEDA, and we can build solutions with Canadian data residency where required — Zaiphr is Canadian-owned. For regulated industries, we align implementations with your specific compliance requirements. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Most engagements run 2–6 weeks from kickoff to a documented handoff. The assessment takes about two weeks, training sessions are scheduled at your convenience, and custom builds typically land inside the 2–6 week window depending on scope. If a project genuinely needs longer, the proposal will say so before you commit — no surprise extensions.

Seven steps: discovery, planning, development, testing, deployment, training, and support — with weekly check-ins so you always know where things stand. You see working software early and often, not a big reveal at the end.

We handle the technical work, but we need your input at three points: initial discovery (2–3 hours), weekly check-ins (30–60 minutes), and testing before sign-off. Most clients find the time commitment manageable — and the check-ins are where scope problems get caught early.

Minor adjustments are usually absorbed within the original scope. Bigger changes get a written change order — updated timeline and pricing — before any extra work starts, so the budget never moves without your sign-off.

Simple automations show measurable time savings within days of going live. More complex builds typically take 30–90 days to settle in as the system tunes to your data and your team builds new habits. Your proposal sets out what to expect at each stage.

No — and be wary of anyone who does. Outcomes depend on factors partly outside our control: data quality, how consistently your team uses the tool, and your market. What we do instead: recommend only things with a credible payback case, set realistic projections up front, and design engagements so you can stop at any rung if the numbers aren't working. See our Disclaimer for details.

Every project includes testing before launch and 30 days of post-launch support, and most issues resolve with tuning, additional training, or small adjustments in that window. If something is genuinely broken, we fix it — you're working directly with the person who built it, so there's no support queue to fight through.

We're a growing practice and honest about it — we're building our portfolio. Current real work includes a dispatch and work-order app in live pilot with a New Brunswick overhead-door company, a municipal campaign website (the candidate won), and AI training work with a New Brunswick educator. We also run our own back office on AI agents we built — that's our standing proof of concept. See Our Work for details.

With Matt McKeigan — the engineer who actually builds your solution. Zaiphr is deliberately a one-engineer practice: no sales team, no project managers playing telephone, no offshore handoffs. You get direct access to the person accountable for the work.

Yes — this is Matt answering. I hold three verifiable credentials: Microsoft Certified Azure AI Engineer Associate (credential ID 8B6C2D4BFDF92152), Microsoft Certified Power BI Data Analyst Associate (credential ID 674E08814E0A898E), and Project Management Professional (PMI ID 3901169). You can check any of them, and you can find me on LinkedIn. I'm not a consultant who talks about AI — I build with it daily.

Our focus is Atlantic Canada, where we know the business landscape and the funding programs, and we serve clients across the country. International work is possible case-by-case — bring it up on the fit call.

We're a remote-first practice, which keeps overhead — and therefore prices — down. Meetings happen by video call or phone, and for Moncton-area clients and larger projects, in-person meetings are easy to arrange.

Zaiphr is the only Atlantic Canada-based AI consultancy where you work directly with a Microsoft-certified engineer who runs his own business on the same AI agents you'll be getting. Three concrete differences: we publish our prices, you work directly with the person building your solution, and we tell you where AI doesn't make sense — sometimes the honest recommendation is a $2,000 assessment and nothing more.